Vertical file cabinets include a hollow upright housing which is open at the front so as to receive a plurality of file drawers therein in a vertically stacked arrangement. Such cabinets are well known and typically use fasteners such as screws or the like or other connection methods such as welding to assemble the individual cabinet components together to form the housing and the drawers. These pre-assembled cabinets are thereafter shipped to customers or distributors.
It is also known to form file cabinets from readily assembleable components which can be shipped in a disassembled condition and are then readily assembled by a customer or distributor. Such cabinets are commonly referred to as "knock-down" cabinets since the component parts can be readily assembled and disassembled. These knock-down file cabinets typically are shipped in smaller packages and at less expense than a preassembled file cabinet.
In one example of a knock-down cabinet, U.S. Pat. No. 1,805,019 discloses a cabinet wherein the side walls, back and top walls of the cabinet are held together by interlocking corner connections. Nevertheless, these corner connections include separate connector parts welded to the top and back walls. For example, the back wall includes vertically elongate bent strips which are welded along the vertical edges of the back wall and are engaged with corresponding rear channels on the side panels or walls. Thus, welding is used to construct the connectors, strips and flanges for connecting the side, back and top walls together.
In another example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,523,653 discloses a knock-down metal cabinet wherein the side, back and top walls are interfitted together. However, two different constructions are provided for the side walls, namely a left side wall and a right side wall. The back wall is connected to the side walls by inserting the opposite side edges thereof into engagement with corresponding slots on the side walls. The slots extend vertically along the entire height of the side walls. This cabinet, however, does not include non-handed side walls which are usable on either the left or right sides, or a connection between the back and side walls which only requires a minimum of manipulation of the back wall to engage the back and side walls together.
Additionally with respect to the cabinet drawers, it is also known to form the cabinet drawers as "knock-down" drawers. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,173,379 discloses a knock-down construction for a card index drawer wherein the bottom, side, front and back walls are joined one with the other along edges thereof. More particularly, the walls are joined together by slots on one side wall which cooperate with corresponding slots on a second wall for providing connections between the horizontal and vertical edges of the walls. Also, U.S. Pat. No. 4,462,647 illustrates similar cooperating slots to join bottom and side walls together along horizontal edges thereof.
In a further example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,352,002 discloses the connection of side walls to a bottom wall by cooperating horizontal slots, the connection of a back wall to the side walls by fasteners and the use of a two-piece front wall which includes outer and inner panels. The panels are held together by a spring on the bottom edges thereof.
In still further examples of a second type of a drawer, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,511,550, 3,639,027, 3,759,600, 4,290,658, 4,561,706 and 4,887,874 disclose various drawer constructions wherein several of the bottom and side walls are formed from a single sheet of material.
The invention relates to a knock-down file cabinet and in particular, a vertical file cabinet wherein both the cabinet housing and each of the drawers have a knock-down construction.
Generally, the cabinet housing includes back, side and top walls which define a box-like enclosure and a ladder-like drawer support frame which defines a plurality of rectangular vertically stacked openings at the front of the cabinet. Two of the side walls are joined together in laterally spaced relation by the back wall and the drawer support ladder, and the top wall is secured thereto. The drawer support ladder is positioned at the front of the cabinet housing to define the openings through which each individual drawer is slidably received.
More particularly, the back wall has upturned clips or tabs which are vertically spaced apart along one side edge thereof and downturned tabs along the opposite side edge thereof. The tabs serve to connect the rear vertical edges of the side walls to the opposite vertical edges of the back wall to define the rear corners of the cabinet. The two side walls have an identical non-handed construction, and the rear vertical edge of each side wall includes a plurality of vertically spaced apertures which are adapted to receive the corresponding clips or tabs of the back wall.
During assembly, the back wall is moved laterally towards the left side wall until the downturned tabs are received through the apertures and then the back wall is shifted downwardly a short distance so that the tabs clip over the lower edge of the openings. The right side wall is similarly engaged with the back wall except that the tabs on the right edge of the back wall project upwardly. In particular, the right side wall is moved laterally and then shifted downwardly until the upturned tabs engage the corresponding openings in the right side wall.
The front vertical edges of the side walls include vertical channels which open rearwardly and are adapted to receive corresponding vertical rails of the drawer support ladder therein. The drawer support ladder rigidly connects the left and right side walls together and defines the open front of the cabinet housing.
As a result, the cabinet housing is rigidly formed from the two non-handed side walls, the back wall, the top wall and the drawer support ladder. A reduced number of components are used and are connected together with a minimum number of fasteners. Thus, the components are readily assembled together.
The knock-down vertical file cabinet of the invention further includes two knock-down drawer constructions for the file drawers. These drawers are slidably received through the openings of the aforementioned drawer support ladder. The first embodiment uses separate components which are slidably fitted together to form the drawer. The second embodiment uses a single sheet of foldable material such as metal which defines the bottom, side and back walls which are all joined together as a single integral piece. To form the box-like drawer, the side walls and back wall are foldable relative to the bottom wall about corresponding fold lines formed therebetween. Either drawer construction is usable within the above-described cabinet housing so as to define a complete knock-down vertical file cabinet which can be readily assembled.
Other objects and purposes of the invention, and variations thereof, will be apparent upon reading the following specification and inspecting the accompanying drawings.